


Near Misses and Stolen Kisses

by Miching_Mallecho



Category: Leverage
Genre: 5 Times, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-02
Updated: 2014-11-02
Packaged: 2018-02-23 15:56:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2553272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miching_Mallecho/pseuds/Miching_Mallecho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Parker and Hardison almost invited Eliot to a threesome, and one time they didn't have to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Near Misses and Stolen Kisses

 

1

 

It was after that job in D.C., the one where Eliot took a bullet on his way to tackle a terrorist (and it only slowed him down, didn't stop him) and then deliberately took one that should have gone in the back of Parker as she raced off the train. They had left Hardison out of that little plan they made with their eyes, because they knew he'd have argued it, of course, and there wasn't time for that. But Eliot had given Parker time to kiss Hardison before they put the plan in motion, and Hardison was aware that Eliot had watched with a determined look on his face like there was no way he wasn't going to keep both of them alive to enjoy another kiss, “for luck” or otherwise, even if it killed him.

So it was after they had brought Eliot back to the Brew Pub and he was sleeping it off that Parker and Hardison first started talking about how their little three-man crew seemed to be becoming something more than a crew.

“Of course we're a little more than a team,” Parker gave Hardison a _we've already had this discussion, twice_ look.

“This...this isn't quite like that, Parker,” Hardison tried to explain. “I mean, I mean do you notice...you know, when Nate and Sophie aren't around, it feels, it feels kind of like...”

“Like the three of us are together?” Parker had a much easier time just coming out with it like that than Hardison did, of course. He shouldn't have been surprised. “Kind of like you and me but with Eliot too?”

Hardison nodded, because he couldn't quite get his vocal chords to make the sound for “yes”.

“He knows.” Parker said, eyes flicking to the room Eliot was shut in.

“He kn—he what now? Did he talk to you? Parker, did he say...”

“He doesn’t know that he knows. But he knows.” Parker's eyes flicked back to Hardison and there was amusement in them that quickly turned to confusion. “Doesn't he?”

Hardison took a large breath. For a moment, all his insides had clenched and he had forgotten how to breathe. The thought that Eliot felt it too and hadn't said anything had surprised him. This made more sense. Parker was just guessing; she had come a long way but she didn't really get people sometimes still. Even though she seemed to get the team pretty well by now. And on that last job, Eliot had seemed to be just as entranced as Parker when Hardison had been hacking into the vault (Parker had told him, because it was something Eliot would never let Hardison see). And Hardison knew Eliot also liked watching Parker dance with the lasers....

“We should just ask him!” Parker had gotten bored of watching the thoughts play out on Hardison's face. She generally liked watching his face, but she had felt different on this job and now that she knew Hardison felt the same way she wanted to know how Eliot felt.

“Ask him what, exactly?” Hardison wanted to know.

“If he wants to be with us!” She hopped off the chair arm she was perched on and started toward the door before Hardison got up noisily (some kind of protest she wasn't listening to was trying to crawl out of his stuttering lips) and grabbed her from behind.

“Hold on girl!”

“What? We both want to know.”

Hardison couldn't really argue with her, but he figured delaying her could work. “The man is injured, Parker! He needs his rest! We should let him sleep and recover, and then we can ask him when he's all better and not focused on healing. Okay?”

Parker shrugged, and Hardison dropped his arms from their restraining position. She turned around to look at Hardison. “What do you think he'll say?”

“Girl, I have no idea.” He did, of course, have some ideas. But really, most of those ideas tended to involve awkward silences and a ruined team dynamic, so he'd rather not talk about them. There were times though, times he thought maybe...before he remembered that taking bullets for them was part of Eliot's job, and Eliot was just really good at his job.

 

2

 

“'Til my dyin' day,” Eliot's voice had dropped and he leaned in, like he was giving her a secret as he winked at Sophie, and something on Sophie's face changed. Her smile disappeared, and her eyes widened, before Nate took her attention away from Eliot. For a moment, it was like she had forgotten that anyone but the two of them were in the room. Hardison didn't miss the way Sophie's attention turned briefly to them almost like she was questioning something, while Nate said his piece to Eliot. Hardison stopped paying attention to Sophie to hear what Nate was saying: that their Hitter never needs anything.

Hardison could mostly agree with that, but there were times Eliot had needed things from them. Like when he asked Parker to get over her fear of horses and drop into a building with them all alone. Or when he needed Nate to understand he was going to save Toby's cooking school (Hardison knew it was a culinary institute but it was more fun to say “cooking school” around Eliot). Or when he said he needed Hardison to find him a madman terrorist so that they could stop a bomb from killing 150 million people. Or when Eliot had given his crutch a weird look and tossed it in favor of Hardison's shoulder at the end of that job. Okay, so he hadn't exactly _needed_ to lean on them but he obviously preferred it.

“Yeah I did,” Hardison almost misses Eliot's answer because he's still talking softly and Hardison was reminiscing, but his attention snaps back to the man now as Eliot turns to look at him and Parker. He pauses, and blinks, and Hardison's on the edge of his seat wondering what the Hitter is going to confess to having needed because he did not miss the past tense Eliot put on his answer or the look Nate's giving Eliot like he's in the middle of a con and he's just waiting for Eliot to wrap it up for him nice and neat. And those two have always had some kind of weird understanding that Hardison barely gets; the way Eliot just knows what Nate's up to more often than not and how he looks out for the man like he's Eliot's surrogate father and how that sometimes gives Nate insight into how Eliot thinks about certain things.

Eliot looks back at Nate to answer: “And thanks to you, I don't have to search anymore.”

Nate is nodding now, like this was the wrap up he expected and he says “yeah” all soft like and he's looking at them so Hardison and Parker stand up now to join the little pow-wow. And when it's all said and done, and Nate and Sophie have left, Parker is standing real close to Eliot so he's the one she grabs onto first—grabbing his left arm and reaching out to grab Hardison's right arm with her other hand. And she pulls them in and they're all kind of teary-eyed except Eliot and then they're in a three-way hug and Hardison is about to open his mouth and say something when Eliot pulls away—though he notices that Eliot's extraction is a little less gruff than usual.

 

3

 

“You don't pick up as many women lately,” Parker says as she walks into the living room where Eliot is reading.

“Parker!” Eliot's head shoots up and he glares at her, then looks around for Hardison.

“What? Is that one of those things I can't talk about?” She knows she hasn't startled him with her presence (she even used the door), so she figures it must be the topic that startled that hard note into his voice.

“No, Parker. People normally don't come out and just say it like that.”

“Why not? I noticed, and I want to talk about it.”

“Why do you want to talk about it?”

Parker sits on the couch arm next to him and he dog-ears his page and sets the book aside. “Because I want to know why.”

“Why I don't pick up so many women lately?” Eliot asks, voice almost dead-pan except for a slight incredulous note.

“Is it harder to do in Oregon?”

Eliot puts a hand over his eyes and pinches his nose. “No, Parker, it's not harder to pick up women in Oregon. I just...haven't had time.” He peeks at her over his hand. “We're missing two people now, the three of us have bigger roles and less time for stuff like that.”

“But Hardison and I still make time for that.” She's working up to something, but it's not a con. You don't con your own crew, and if she did that to Eliot he'd be really mad. But still, it _feels_ like a con and she doesn't feel too bad about backing him into a corner. She might feel bad about not feeling bad about it. Feelings are still hard to figure out sometimes, and Parker makes a mental note to ask Hardison about this later.

“I just don't want to be distracted when you may need me,” Eliot says patiently. “There are only three of us now and, well, I have more to look out for.”

“But less people to look out for. Shouldn't that give you more time?”

“Parker—“ Eliot pauses and decides to say something else. “Why do you care if I'm sleeping with anyone, Parker?”

Now he's got something in his face like maybe he's running a con and she's going to tell him he's a hypocrite later if she's right. “Because, Hardison and I--”

“I've got the pizza, babe!” And then Hardison is walking in and Parker turns to glare at him. Hardison catches the look and his face expands the way it does when he's only kind of outraged and his eyes go all big and his mouth opens. “Oh girl you did not! You did not start without me!”

Eliot looks from Hardison to Parker to the TV that is currently off and figures that maybe Hardison might not be talking about Parker starting the movie night before he arrives with the food.

 

4

 

“Why is your girlfriend asking me about my sex life?” Eliot asks while he and Hardison are on surveillance inside Lucille.

Hardison coughs and stutters, which is a sure sign that he is up to something. “M-man, I don't know! What did she ask you?”

“She asked me why I wasn't sleeping with people as much.”

“Maybe, maybe she's just interested in interpersonal relationships now,” Hardison stalls. “I mean, she is taking more of an interest in people now and how they work and...and _feel_.”

“Uh-huh.”

Eliot clearly doesn't believe him and Hardison is sick of dancing around the subject. He rests his arms on the built-in table on either side of his keyboard. “Look man,”

“ _Eliot, you're up._ ” Parker's voice comes over the ear bud and Eliot is still waiting for Hardison to finish his sentence. They pass a few moments in silence. “ _Eliot? The mark?_ ”

“I-I'll tell you later,” Hardison sighs.

 

5

 

“Eliot, Hardison wants to have a threesome.”

Eliot chokes on his veal parmigiana and nearly drops his fork. “What?!”

“Have you ever had a threesome?”

“Parker, I'm eating.”

“But have you?”

Eliot spears another bite of food and brings it to his lips. “Yes,” he says before he takes the bite. He lets Parker chew on his answer while he chews his food, glancing bemusedly at her as she grinds her teeth as if she really is chewing.

“What did you think?”

“It was fun.”

“Was it with two women?”

“Why, does Hardison want one with another woman, or a man?”

“He just wants a threesome.” She isn't exactly meeting his eye when she answers, but Eliot lets it go.

“Are you worried?” He's often been the one talking to Parker about her relationship behind the scenes when Sophie isn't available. Or sometimes even when she is. Like when Hardison was worried about how Parker would feel about retiring.

Parker gives him a long, strange look before answering, “Not really.”

 

6

 

“Kiss for luck?” They're back in D.C. for another job, and Eliot is grinning as he says it to Parker, but he's looking at Hardison to make sure the other man knows it's meant as a joke. The three of them are getting ready for surveillance, which means dressing in more of the costumes Hardison has made for them in his spare time. Eliot as a janitor again, Hardison as an IT guy and Parker as a...well, as a woman in a revealing power suit. She'll nab some kind of security pass off of someone when she gets there to plant bugs in a specific office.

He's in the process of zipping up his jumpsuit over his other clothes and his eyes are still on Hardison and that's a mistake because it's really Parker he should be watching. It's only Parker that can sneak up on Eliot, so he should know better than to tease her without watching her by now. Suddenly his gaze is shifting down but not because he voluntarily stops looking at Hardison, rather because Parker has gripped the back of his neck and is swinging his face down and around to her and then she's kissing him.

Eliot stumbles back and Parker lets him go but holds out a hand to steady him. Eliot looks at Hardison and doesn't take Parker's hand, because his hands are too busy making the “whoa” gesture toward Hardison like the other man is going to throw a punch, but Hardison is languidly posed in the doorway of the connected bedroom he and Parker had been sharing in the hotel, and he has a dopey smile on his face.

“Well that's one way girl,” he mutters toward Parker.

“I was sick of waiting,” she says.

Eliot looks at Parker and she shrugs, then grins.

“What?” Eliot looks at Hardison again and the man jerks his head back indicating the bedroom behind him.

“For morale?”

Eliot decides that he'll admit it later, maybe, if they ask him; admit that he knew all along where this was going--what they've been intentionally and unintentionally hinting at the past few months. He'll admit that he had known what his answer would be ever since Hardison had gotten trapped in that coffin and Parker had kept him breathing long enough for Eliot to pull him out and grab him and realize for the first time that he didn't want to let go. He'll admit that he knew Nate had seen it too, that Nate had been expecting Eliot's declarations that night; that Nate was probably gloating over the fact that he realized it before Sophie. He'll admit these things later, maybe, if they ever ask him. But for now...

Eliot growls and makes his way closer to the bedroom door and the man leaning in the doorway. “For a hell of a lot more than that,” he says, and Parker lets out a whoop behind him, hot on his heels.


End file.
